I want to be close to the people who need me

That is what I really like: being in the heart of a community, close to the people who need me. The contact with these people, being part of their life and understanding their problems are the very reasons I started the clinic with Mark.

Mark and I go a long way, having first met working in the same hospital. Later on, we started running into each other in other hospitals, so we got to know each other really well. When a few years later, I had the idea of opening my own clinic, I immediately thought of Mark. We complement each other perfectly: I work with the patients and Mark does the administration. Also, as he’s a better driver, he picks up patients in case of an emergency.
We have three people working for us. They understand our place in the community, they share our values: always be there for the people. At the clinic, we perform minor operations, we do lab tests, we attend to pregnant women, and we are here to answer all kinds of questions that one could find difficult to ask other people, like questions about family planning.

Our clients love to watch TV

Starting a business was risky. Mark and I saved around a hundred thousand shilling (1000 dollars), but we needed a lot more before we could open our own clinic. In 2015, I approached the Kenya Women Microfinance Bank to finance our project and fortunately, I was granted a loan of two hundred fifty thousand shilling (2500 dollars). When starting a small business in Kenya, it’s not easy to get a loan and it is even less so for women, so I was very happy to find a bank which targets us women specifically. We used the money to renovate the building, and to buy equipment and some medicine. We also had to pay for the necessary licenses. And I can tell you that getting those was not easy. One of them was our music licence, which we have to pay because of the television in our waiting room. We find the monthly six thousand shilling (60 dollars) outrageous, but pay it anyway, as our clients love watching television.
Of course Mark and I were worried during the first few months. Would the people trust us? Would they come to us? To our relief, people quickly started coming to our clinic, which allowed us to pay back our first loan on time and in full.
In 2017 we took another loan. This time we were more confident, and we lent twice as much for better equipment and more medicine. Keeping up with the monthly instalments is harder this time around, however, especially considering changes in the political situation and the drop in the economy. This means that we are not growing as much or as fast as we had hoped we would. Still, we remain positive and stay focused.

Far from ideal

Our days are very long. One of us has to be present in the clinic from eight in the morning till late in the evening, seven days a week. This means we don’t often see our family. Mark has two children and so have I, but they have all accepted the situation. They know we work hard to give them a better future.
At the moment, we don’t have our own ambulance, and we don’t have any wards. This means that when people need to stay overnight, we have to take them to Machakos, the regional capital. This is usually a challenge, as the patients may not be up to a long ride. Often, they also find it difficult to trust these strange doctors, wanting to be treated by us. It also means that we have to brief the doctor on the medical history and situation of the patient. It’s far from ideal.
Our dream therefore is, first, to have an ambulance, and, eventually, have the facilities to be an actual hospital where patients can be admitted overnight and treated by familiar faces without the ordeal of a bumpy and potentially dangerous ride.

It’s all a matter of trust

However, we can’t realise this dream without another loan. So, in the near future, we will go to our bank again. Usually, to get a loan for a major project, you need sufficient collateral. But I hope they trust us enough to accept what we have to offer.

Like with our patients, it’s all a matter of trust.

Take for example this cheque book that I received from the bank. At first, our suppliers didn’t accept cheques. But when they realised that our word was good, and they actually received their money, they started trusting this new payment method. I’m very proud we were among the first to receive these cheque books from the bank.
I’m sure we will succeed; Mark and I make a great team. Every day I feel invigorated when I see people coming to our clinic because we can help them.
We feel most successful when patients come to us to thank us for what we did, for making them better, for giving them hope.

BIO invested 5 million dollars of equity in REGMIFA, a regional MSME fund for sub-Saharan Africa, and 3.5 million dollars in equity and debt to the Rural Impulse Fund (RIF), an investment fund for rural microfinancing.
REGMIFA and RIF support financial institutions like the Kenya Women Microfinance Bank (KWFT) which served Beatrice so well. The bank has over 800,000 clients. Eighty percent of KWFT’s operations are in rural areas where the majority of Kenyans live.